Newsletter - December 2018

NO 2 SQUADRON ASSOCIATION BRANCH (Air Force Association Victorian Division)

PRESIDENT

GPCAPT Carl Schiller OAM, CSM (Ret) SECRETARY / TREASURER Phone: 0412 814 212 Email: [email protected] Walter Sherman 4 Keen Place, LARA, Vic 3212 VICE PRESIDENT Phone: 0407 152 479 Email: [email protected] Graham Henry KCSJ Phone: 03 9570 2186 Email: [email protected]

President’s Report

My Dear Colleagues

2018 is a milestone in military history being the centenary of the signing of the Armistice at Compiegne, France on November 11th, 1918. It brought to the end four years of human tragedy. The Australian Flying Corps Association was created from this disaster to support AFC Great War veterans. The compassion for their mates was their motivation. They recognised the need for fellowship, commemoration of deeds done, and emotional and other forms of support. Clearly, these chaps were innovative and adaptable. They were operators of a new technology that would change the face of warfare.

On Sunday November 4th, 2018 Air Force Association Victoria hosted a very successful Reception and a twilight service to commemorate the signing of the Armistice. November 4th is also a milestone in our military history. On this day in 1918 were the last recorded battlefield deaths on the Western Front. Six were recorded; three were members of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Division, and the other members of No 4 Squadron AFC. I felt very honoured to deliver 2 this reflection of our military aviation history at the service conducted at the AFC Memorial Point Cook. Group Captain Michael Que Hee, CSC laid a single Memorial Wreath made by ‘5000 Poppies’ to commemorate the sacrifice of those who served and their families who supported them.

I also had the opportunity to lay a wreath on behalf of the Air Force Association at the Remembrance Day commemoration at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The Association is among a few privileged ex-Service Organisations to be invited to do so.

Earlier in November I attended a presentation in the Great Hall of Parliament House, Canberra to hear a presentation from Dr Brendon Nelson, AO on the redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial (AWM). It was a heartfelt presentation focusing on the need to ensure the experiences in more recent conflicts, and peacekeeping and humanitarian operations are revealed at the AWM. Dr Nelson emphasised the $498m budget for the redevelopment was not being funded from any veteran support budget. The redevelopment has the support from the Government and the Opposition.

The 2SQN Association Branch has 40 members who will be invited to attend the Annual General Meeting and Luncheon that will be held on the Sunday prior to ANZAC Day 2019. The function will receive major financial support from Air Force Association Victoria. Next year will conclude the Association’s free membership period and members will be required to pay $25 annual subscription. The financial support of the Association is used to enable it to continue to fight alongside other ex-Service organisations at the National level to preserve and improve veterans’ benefits. The Air Force Association continues the legacy left by our Australian Flying Corps colleagues.

I wish you and your family a safe and happy Christmas, and I look forward to seeing you at the AGM and Luncheon in April.

Annual General Meeting & Committee Appointments The Branch’s 2018 Annual General Meeting and Annual Luncheon was held at Milanos Tavern, 4 The Esplanade, Brighton Victoria on Sunday, 22nd April 2018. The following Committee Appointments were elected / re-elected at the General Meeting:

President: Carl Schiller Vice-President Graham Henry Secretary/Treasurer Walter Sherman Committee Members John Elliott Lee-Anne Stanway

WW1 Armistice Commemorative Service

The Air Force Association – Victoria hosted a commemorative service marking the centennial of the signing of the WW1 Armistice at Compiegne, France on November 11th, 1918 ending the hostilities of the Great War.

The Service was held at the Air Force Memorial at RAAF Williams Point Cook Base and a number of No 2 Squadron Branch members were on the Organizing Committee. As you can see from the photographs below a great deal of work was involved; especially in the right dressing of some 500 white chairs (twice), the fixing of the Australian Flag on the Point Cook Cenotaph and the installation of the poppy wall. Of particular note was Lee Stanway’s moving involvement in the reading of the Armistice Address. This was a major event for the Air Force Association – Victoria and I would like to applaud all those involved.

Bruce Hudgson 5

Squadron Leader Lee Stanway

Memories of 2 Squadron During World War II - Alex Greig 125672

Soon after leaving school and entering the workforce, Alex joined the RAAF cadets and enlisted at 18 years after training at Cressy, Nhill and Deniliquin and qualifying as a fitter- armourer. He then moved to the RAAF’s No. 2 Squadron and was transferred to Darwin, which had been under siege by the Japanese. It was 1943 and just a year previously, the city had suffered crippling surprise air attacks from the Japanese that were both unexpected and horrifying to a populace basking in the illusion that it was immune from enemy invasion. On 19 February 1942, more than 240 Japanese aircraft had attacked the shipping in the harbour and the town’s two airfields in an attempt to prevent the allies using them as a base to contest the inroads they had made into Timor and Java. It was a nervous time for Darwinians, many of whom were repatriated southwards for their safety. These events made increasingly evident the need for Australia to mount a strong defensive strategy to protect the islands to the north from further invasion and Japanese occupation and, in this regard Darwin, was a pivotal RAAF base.

For Alex, the journey from Adelaide on the ancient goods train aptly named Leaping Lena was a jerky and rough introduction to the 45 mile Hughes strip south of Darwin that was established as the Squadron’s base. Whilst there, he was seriously burned on the back and legs when a colleague used aircraft fuel in a pressure lamp in lieu of kerosene and tossed it outside the armament hut to disperse the explosion. The explosion impacted on the passers- by, and both Alex and another airman suffered serious second and third degree burns and were rushed to the Darwin Hospital. Fortunately, penicillin had just been introduced and this, together with careful nursing, saline infusions, a rubber bed, and salt baths led to rapid recovery. However, as he was unable to resume normal duties immediately, he was invited to take over the welfare role of the Salvation Army while the officer in charge was on compassionate leave down south. This position involved responsibility for the field unit and the distribution of a range of those amenities much appreciated by serving personnel. It also included driving the fully equipped Salvos mobile van with its supply of cold drinks and other refreshments to the ground staff hard at work in the searing tropical heat on aircraft maintenance. The greeting was always the cry of Holy Joe. It was disquieting at first, but soon an accepted part of the twice daily ritual taken in good humour. The overall welfare task was lightened by the assistance of three young men, who had been prisoners of war and mistreated by the Japanese. One memorable event associated with the mobile service was a bridge collapse during a tropical storm with the result that the van had to be abandoned on the edge of the water and left to the mercy of the overnight incoming tide. Next day it was towed back to base and three Japanese prisoners were delegated to assist with the stock reclamation, while the mechanics worked on the engine that had been affected by salt water.

The tensions surrounding the Squadron’s mission did not abate. By early August 1945, it was clear that the Japanese were facing defeat and 2 Squadron moved its bombers from the Hughes strip to Balikpapan in Borneo. Most of the fleet comprised Mitchell bombers and, very frequently, their effectiveness was diminished by the poor standard of communications that seriously hampered the sorties over New Britain, where further relocation had been planned for the Squadron. Alex expected to be in the advance party to set up the new facility at Balikpapan but this did not eventuate and his friend, Les Campbell, was part of the first unit to fly out. To the dismay of all, their plane inexplicably lost contact whilst flying in formation and disappeared, with the crash evidence remaining undiscovered for many decades. Campbell was one of the 176 casualties suffered by 2 Squadron during its WWII operations. 8

On 9 September General Sir Thomas Blamey, Australia’s only Field Marshall, delivered the terms of the Surrender to Lt-General Teshima, Commander of the Second Japanese Army on the occasion of the Morotai signing. The words read out were harsh and unequivocal:

In receiving your surrender I do not recognise you as an honourable and gallant foe ….. the atrocities inflicted upon the persons of our nationals as prisoners of war and internees, (were) designed to reduce them by punishment and starvation to slavery.

At this time there were several aircraft flying overhead with armed personnel on alert for any adverse responses from the enemy.

At this pivotal moment of the cessation of an armed conflict that had persisted for almost four years, endangered Australia, and threatened the complacency of its isolation, the role of 2 Squadron suddenly shifted to provide air cover for the ground staff overseeing the surrender and disarmament of Japanese troops. From this point onwards, the tide had turned. The bombs carried by the Mitchells were replaced with food supplies and leaflets to advise those hiding in the jungles of Bali, Lombok, Flores and the Celebes that fighting had ceased.

Alex continued with the Salvation Army’s welfare activities that focused on locating those local people seriously affected by the Japanese occupation and requiring support to resume their traditional activities. The Mitchells were stripped of their armaments and converted to transports in order to be used as air ambulances flying to Labuan, then to Singapore, to repatriate the most urgent medical cases. Over the ensuing months, members of 2 Squadron were discharged and Alex reported his own return being particularly tense when the plane sprung an oil leak requiring a stop in Alice Springs to find a gasket from a car repairer’s workshop. However, the oil spray continued to obscure vision and there was yet another landing for urgent repairs. Finally, the journey resumed southwards only to have the wireless transmission break down necessitating some very low flying for the navigator to be able to sight the ocean’s ‘white caps’ to establish coordinates before final touch down at Laverton. It was an ignominious, if scarcely unexpected, mode of return for this particular plane with its distinctive signage The Bad Penny (i.e. ‘always turns up’) carefully inscribed on the nose cap by the Squadron’s self-appointed artist.

The Mitchells were destined not to remain as part of the RAAF inventory and were scrapped, whilst the revetments, taxiways, maintenance, operations and domestic sites at Hughes airfield became overgrown with little remaining to testify to the Squadron’s presence during those tumultuous war years. However, more recently there has been a revival of its utility for aviation. In 2012 the Northern Territory Government awarded a contract to a mining services’ company to repair and resurface the strip and prepare it for use by firefighting aircraft, and even more recently there has been a proposal for its restoration as a general aviation airport separate to the main Darwin International Airport. No 2 Squadron itself is still an operational RAAF unit based at Williamtown in New South Wales and currently forms part of Australia’s Surveillance and Response teams. Its most recent deployment is in the Middle East where it is assisting international operatives to disrupt the spread of ISIS in Iraq and neighbouring countries. It has had a proud history since its first mission in 1916 at the Western Front as part of the Australian Flying Corps and it was awarded 9

special recognition with a Presidential Citation in WWII for outstanding performance of duty in action for its attacks on Japanese shipping in Australia’s northern islands.

Post-war, Alex did not veer from his passion for the welfare field that had been fostered during his war experience, and was involved in a number of areas including youth and family, child protection, personnel work, disability services and community organisation.1 Not only was he motivated by a desire to assuage the futility of war, but also to encourage more purposeful experiences amongst youth, especially those significantly disadvantaged. It was a time of optimism in the social welfare field as a network of organisations around Melbourne gathered together to professionalise youth services. Many new initiatives that appeared quite novel at the time were trialled, including the first programme of work experience to facilitate young people’s transition into the workforce, especially in the impoverished inner- city areas.

Alex Greig 125672

1 The Squadron produced 18 flying aces and shot down 94 aircraft with its own casualties being 25 personnel killed and 8 wounded during WWI. It reformed at Laverton in 1937 prior to WWII using Anson aircraft. Following the outbreak of the War, the Squadron moved to Darwin in 1941 to perform anti-submarine activities and general reconnaissance for which Hudson Lockheed bombers were deployed. The detachment provided cover for Australian troops moving within the islands to the north and attacked Japanese shipping at Ambon, Timor, Koepang and other islands in the Banda sea. By 1943, Beaufort bombers were utilised and the Squadron attacked enemy shipping and Timorese villages occupied by the Japanese and native informers. By the following year the Squadron was equipped with Mitchell aircraft and began targeting enemy barges and freighters that were supplying their outer garrisons. The Squadron finally assumed transport operations before moving to Laverton later that year, when it was reduced to a cadre basis and eventually disbanded in May 1946 until once again being reformed for later service operations.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL AVIATION MUSEUM (AMAN) Moorabbin Vic - John Elliott 2SQN Vietnam 67-68

Canberra A84-226

On the 23th May 2018, I had the honour and privilege along with other members of 2SQN Association Victoria, to be invited to the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin for the unveiling of restored Canberra Bomber A84-226. The history of A84-226 is recorded on the following website http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a84a.htm from is beginning life at the Government Aircraft Factory and the first flight on 28/10/1955 to its arrival at the ANM Moorabbin in June 2016. Many hours of work had to be carried out by the volunteers to disassemble the aircraft prior to is movement from Wagga Wagga airbase where it stood as a monument at the front gate. A detailed account of the effort required to move the aircraft from Wagga Wagga to its new home at the museum is recorded in the museum’s “Insight Magazine” which can be accessed on the internet at the following link. http://library.aarg.com.au/Librarian/1806Insight/mobile/index.html

The volunteers who put hours into restoring A84-226

If you are in the Melbourne area , it’s a worthwhile trip to the museum at Moorabbin airport. One aspect of the aircraft restoration and displays is that they very keen on presenting the aircraft as “Open Cockpit”displays , which means you can touch, feel and look and sit inside the cockpits of most of the aircraft, whereas a lot of other museums have the aircraft roped off so you can only admire them from afar “so to speak”. While looking inside you can wonder at what was going through the navigators mind when he had to leave the safety of the ejection seat and slide his way down that narrow opening on the right hand side of the pilot to assume the bomb aimers position with the possibility of the pilot carrying out the usual twists and turns to get the aircraft on approach to the target. Then a reverse procedure to get out…

As the old get older and past gets dimmer, it is a boost to the mind and memories of when were we were young, to be able to visit an aviation museum where each aircraft on display has been brought back to life by a dedicated team of volunteers, this brings back the memories. As it was told to me, the older generations usually don't share military experiences with children/grandchildren because it might sound like they are boasting or boring them. We need to commend the efforts of the volunteers restoring and maintaining military artefacts that promotes our history. In future years our descendants can visit and say the words "These are the aircraft from military units my parents/grandparents/great grandparents served with".

Veterans’ Home Care

If you are a Gold Card or White Card holder with low care needs, DVA’s Veterans' Home Care (VHC) program can assist you to continue living in your home by providing you with a small amount of practical help. The VHC Program also assists carers in recognition of the vital role they play in the veteran and defence community.

For further information regarding available services and eligibility requirements see the DVA website and Factsheets below: https://www.dva.gov.au/health-and-wellbeing/home-and-care/veterans-home-care-vhc https://www.dva.gov.au/factsheet-hcs01-veterans-home-care https://www.dva.gov.au/factsheet-hsv06-respite-care-and-carer-support https://www.dva.gov.au/factsheet-hcs05-waiver-co-payments-veterans-home-care-services

To arrange an assessment call a VHC Assessment Agency on 1300 550 450.

Letters from Members

If you have an interesting story or article that you would like to share with other members, please send it to the Secretary for inclusion in the Newsletter.

Membership

Membership of No 2 Squadron Association Branch (Air Force Association Victorian Division) is open to all serving and former members of No 2 Squadron, all serving and former Air Force members, their dependants and all adults who have an aviation interest and support the aims and objects of the Air Force Association.

Application forms can be downloaded directly from the Air Force Association Victoria website:

http://raafavic.org.au

Warm regards

Carl Schiller Carl Schiller, OAM CSM President 2SQN Association Branch (Air Force Association Victorian Division)

3rd December 2018

2SQN RAAF Honours Motto: Presidential Citation WW2 Consilio et Manu

Unit Citation, Vietnam (To Advise and to Strike)

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Vietnam